Could this be an omen for 2013?

I like to think of myself as a pretty tough cookie and there is not much that I can’t deal with on my own.

But, there is one thing that I just don’t do – Spiders.

Having raised three sons we’ve had our fair share of unusual pets. I’m not scared of mice or snakes, even contemplated getting one as a pet, went so far as to get the reptile keepers license but due to my mother- in-law’s threats not to visit, we finally settled on owning turtles. I still think the snake idea has merit 😉

My fear of spiders does have history. As a youngster I used to visit my pop’s place quite often, he lived about 90 minutes from Sydney in a little suburb called Hazelbrook on the Blue Mountains – overseas readers may have heard of The Three Sisters, a tourist spot not far from his house. Anyway, on one such visit my pop offered to take me to the local swimming pool. I rushed outside, grabbed my swimming costume from the line and quickly put it on – I really loved swimming. What I didn’t enjoy was the large, hairy spider that had taken up residence inside my swimwear. I can still feel that spider crawling up my back whenever I think about it.

You know the theory that mothers will protect their children at all costs – Wrong. When my middle son was a toddler I left him strapped in his car seat with a Huntsman spider sitting, above his head, inside the car. I eventually dragged some poor stranger from his gardening to rescue my child and dispose of the unwanted intruder.

So, you can understand why I am afraid of what this year has in store for me, when I am forced to deal with the photo above, just two days into the new year and when hubby is back at work.

At first, when I walked out to my living room and noticed the dark stain on the ceiling, my reaction was “Oh no, we have a water leak.” Imagine my horror when on closer inspection the leaks started to move. In fact they raced helter skelter all over the ceiling, hundreds of them, possibly thousands – Okay I may be exaggerating but still it was hundreds of creepy, nasty baby spiders.

Things I’ve discovered when dealing with spider infestations-

DON’T SPRAY WITH INSECTICIDE. All that happens is the nasty little beasts fall into your hair or race around angrily.

Use a vacuum cleaner to round them all up – Especially one with a very long nozzle!

My husband loves me – he left the city and raced home to save me after receiving my screaming, irrational and emotional phone call. Too bad it was all over by the time he got home. But he did empty the vacuum that I had been afraid to turn off.

In better news later that day I received an email informing me I had won four free books. So who knows maybe the year won’t be so bad after all… Although I can’t help but wonder if I did manage to catch them all. What if, some managed to escape and are hiding somewhere growing larger by the day and just waiting to take their revenge?